Voltz Wars Wiki:Manual of Style
Welcome to the Voltz Wars Wiki! We appreciate your contributions, but before continuing to edit, please read our Manual of Style carefully. This page is designed to help all new editors of Wikia and all new editors of this wiki to settle in and feel comfortable when editing. This manual will also tell you our policies and guidelines. For further information or answers to any questions you may have, please leave a message on an Administrator's or Bureaucrat's talk page. New editors to Wikia If you are a new to Wikia, please read over the following before making any edits. Creating an account Creating a Wikia account is free and easy, and although this is optional, we'd like you to make one before doing any editing. When picking a Username, please avoid using inappropriate language, such as cursing, racial slang, and sexual terms. Any Users who do so will be banned from the wiki and their User profile will be deleted. Getting started After you've created your new account, add an photo as your avatar. This is the icon or photo that represents your Username. However, please avoid putting inappropriate images, icons, or photos with strong language, racial slang, or sexual themes into your avatars. Users who do this will be banned from the wiki and the photo will be deleted. For more information on uploading photos and videos, please see our "Uploading policy" below. After you've gotten familiar with uploading photos, try adding a video to your User profile. Now, it's time to add text. For more information on text editing, please visit the "New editors to the wiki" section below. New editors to the wiki If you are new to the wiki and already have a Wikia account, please read over the following before making any edits on the wiki. Page layout Getting the correct page layout is important for a good encyclopedia page. Always use "Heading 2" when creating a new subtitle. Always try to link to other pages if possible and put the article in the correct . Follow the layout below to create a good standard page. And if you see a page that needs to be expanded, please add it to the Article stubs Category. The basic page layout is below. For certain page layouts, see further. #After first creating the blank article, put in an infobox or any other Templates that can be used to enhance the page. For more on using Templates, please see our "Template guidelines" below. #Second, add a brief summary of the topic (character, episode, season, place, ect.) and remember to put the name of the topic in bold type, the first time it's mentioned in the article. Character page layout When creating an article for a character, whether it be an NPC or player, please follow the following layout. #Be sure to do the above steps. #After you've done the basic page layout, use the "Heading 2" heading and name it "Biography." The character's biography will go beneath this heading with various subtitles that match events the character did/is doing/does. This should be the longest part of the page and should be written in third person and should remain unbiased. This keeps the article more professional. #After the biography is finished, use the "Heading 2" subtitle again and name the next section "Personality and traits." What does the character like? Is he/she obsessed with anything? Does he have special powers or abilities? They all go under "Personality and traits." Once again, please try to keep the page unbiased and in third person. #Next, use the "Heading 2" heading again and call the next subtitle "Trivia." Is there anything the reader of the article needs to know about a certain character? Does the character have a nickname or had done something that stood out? If so, it goes here. #Finally, use the "Heading 2" title and name the last section "Sources and references." If you used something from Wikipedia, or another external website (this does not count YouTube), this is a copyright offense and you could be banned from editing. Please be sure to site all sources correctly. This includes photos and videos too. For more information on citing, see our "Referencing policy" below. Episode page layout When creating an article for an episode of Voltz Wars, please follow the guidelines below. Also, do not create articles for "mock" Voltz Wars series. You may only create episode pages for Finbarhawkes' series. #Do the basic page layout. (You may copy and paste from YouTube descriptions, if there is no foul language in the description.) #After the basic layout, use the "Heading 2" title and name the first subtitle "Premise." This is a basic overview of what leads up to the events taking place in the episode. Try to keep it short and simple and remember to use third person. #Next, use "Heading 2" and label the next heading "Synopsis." The synopsis is where you tell the reader about the plot of the episode. This should be the longest part of the article. Use line breaks to separate paragraphs and be sure to keep it third person. #Now, add a "Trivia" section using "Heading 2." Just like in character articles, was there anything interesting that happened in the episode? Were there any errors? Did things go wrong because of someone/something? Be sure to explain. #Finally, use the "Heading 2" title to call the next subtitle "Sources and references." Be sure to cite all pages correctly. See the "Referencing policy" below for more details. Season page layout When creating a page for a season of Voltz Wars, all you need do is use the basic page layout and add a "Sources and references" subtitle. You do not have to give a long summary of what happened throughout the season. However, be sure to add an infobox and fill all known fields. Places page layout When creating an article for a place in Voltz Wars, use nicknames given to the place by either Finbar or David to name it. If the place doesn't have a nickname, then do not create an article for it. Be sure to follow the guidelines below when creating a page for a place. #Use the basic page layout guidelines. #Use "Heading 2" to create a subtitle named "Environmental description." In this section, tell what the place is like in terms of geographic features and climate. If the place is a base, then tell what the surroundings look like. #Now, using "Heading 2," create another subtitle named "Purpose" and explain why the place is significant to Voltz Wars, however remember to keep it third person. #Create a "Sources and references" subtitle using "Heading 2" and follow our "Referencing policy" which can be seen below. Unknown category page layout If you are creating an article for a topic and it doesn't fit into one of the above categories, then simply follow the second step of the basic page layout, adding only a summary of the topic. Alert an Admin or Bureaucrat to assist in editing the page. Visual v.s. Source After clicking the "Edit" button on a page, you will notice two text editing styles at the top-right corner of the editing screen, Visual and Source. Visual editing mode is set by default, however you can tell your profile to enter into Source editing mode automatically in " ." Source mode uses a mixture of HTML code as well as Wikia Text, a type of code, specially designed for Wikia. Take a look at the Source code of this page and see an example of Wikia Text. For beginners, just starting out, use Visual mode more often than Source code and when you feel comfortable, switch into Source and see if you can't see the differences in editing. Practice using Source editing mode on your User page, before trying it out on articles. Wiki policies If you are new to the wiki and/or have just created a Wikia account, please review all our rules policies before editing. Naming policy When naming articles, please name them by their proper name. For example, name an article "Finbarhawkes," not "Finbar" or "D 2the avid," not "David." If you notice an article with an incorrect name, you may rename the article. For more information on renaming articles, see further for our "Renaming policy." Also refrain from creating articles with Minecraft items and materials. This is not a wiki for this. For Minecraft items and other mods, visit the Minecraft Wiki. Renaming policy Renaming a page is simple and easy to do. However, before renaming a page, consider whether or not the page should be renamed. Only rename a page if it has any of the following characteristics. *The page has a wrong name *The page should be marked as something different (Main, Category, Template, Special, MediaWiki, ect.) *The page should be merged with another article Only if a page meets any of the above, should its name be changed. If you are found vandalizing articles and the wiki by renaming them for no specific reason, you will be banned. If the article does meet the above requirements to be renamed, please give a valid reason in the "Reason:" box on the renaming screen. If not, an Admin will inform you and ask for a reason. Deletion policy Only an Administrator or Bureaucrat can delete a page or article. If you feel that a page doesn't belong on our wiki, please inform an Admin or Bureaucrat by leaving a message on their talk page. Protection policy Only Administrators or Bureaucrats can protect pages to prevent vandalism and over-editing. If you feel a page or article is being vandalized, please inform an Admin or Bureaucrat immediately by leaving a message on their talk page. Uploading policy When uploading a photo or video, you must be logged in to a Wikia account. When uploading a picture or video, try to keep foul language, racial slang, and sexual themes out of the photo or video (an exception to this is Finbarhawkes' Voltz Wars series). Any User caught uploading an inappropriate photo or video will be banned from the wiki. Also, tell where you got the photo/video from and if it will be properly used with no copyright incidents. If you use the photo/video in a page or article, be sure to cite it. See our "Referencing policy" below. Template guidelines Templates are the easiest way to brighten up a page or article and they're easy to use. Templates are a simple way to make syntax appear instantly and not have to worry about coding the whole thing. You may attempt to make Template pages by putting the "Template:" marker before the name of the Template, however this is not recommended. After first creating a Template page, you will automatically be brought into Source editing mode. This is because Templates use syntax, HTML, and Wiki Text. You must edit the whole Template using this code. After the Template is complete, please use the "Heading 2" subtitle and title the section "Syntax" and write the syntax of the code for others to copy and paste onto pages using the "pre" opening tag and "/pre" closing tag. Another way to make Templates appear on other pages is to use curly braces. See example below: After the Template appears on the page you want it to, fill in all known fields and be sure to preview your work before publishing. Referencing policy If you have referenced anything to an external website (excluding YouTube and Finbarhawkes' YouTube channel), then the following guidelines will show you how to reference an item and make a footnote at the bottom of the page/article the reference is in. Follow the guidelines as directed below for correct citations. Finbarhawkes, Voltz Wars. :www.youtube.com, November 20, 2013. :External. The above example is referencing Finbarhawkes' Voltz Wars series, however you do not have to reference his videos, only other external websites. Take note that not doing so may result in a copyright offense. Also, be sure to reference photos and videos if you got them from a video site other than YouTube. Other things to know These are just a few last minute things we'd like to mention before you continue to edit. Linking Linking to other pages or external websites is a great way to enhance the article's performance and give the reader a chance to jump to a related article quick and easily. Add links using one pair of brackets for external links (pages not on this wiki) and two pairs of brackets for internal links (other pages on the wiki). Spelling/Grammar Please take into account spelling and grammar. We'd like to keep the wiki looking professional and to do so we need your help in fixing spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the wiki. If you're not sure how to spell a word, go into Source editing mode where a Spell Check system is always active. Headings There are four basic types of headings used in Wiki Text code, starting with "Heading 2," the biggest subtitle heading size, and going all the way up to "Heading 5," the smallest subtitle heading size. These headings are designed to keep information in an organized fashion. Please use these headings for organization and to separate paragraphs. Be sure to use the headings to explain what the following paragraph will be about. Point of View When creating a page or article, please refrain from first person or second person point of views. Try to keep an unbiased, third person point of view. This way, the fans on both sides will enjoy the wiki. British v.s. American English The Founder of this wiki, Cwagungood, has designed this wiki in American Standard English, however if you happen to live in the United Kingdom or another English-speaking British country, you may use British English as well. Additional Questions Any further questions may be brought to an Administrator or Bureaucrat via their talk page. See all wiki Administrators and Bureaucrats . Category:Voltz Wars Wiki